If your talking Papa Johns... Ask them to LIGHTLY dock the crust and to pop the bubbles by hand. I would be on location to make for sure they do it. I believe this came from Compl3x, a guy that was a big hit here that worked at PJ's.

That would be for a traditional crust, not the thin. I love the breadsticks, and the cheese and garlic sauce are a hit in our home. But wait till the wfo makes its way onto the back porch, then I will school them about pizza... Maybe.

I have a 2008 copy of the ingredients for all of the Papa John's products and I would say that of the majors, PJ has the "cleanest" products. Their flour is a high protein flour that is milled from a Kansas wheat strain that was developed exclusively for them to achieve the characteristic flavor of the PJ crust. No one else has that flour. The flour is unbleached and unbromated (as are the flours used by most of the big chains) although PJ does use ascorbic acid in their flours. I estimate that the protein content is somewhere between 13-14%. Their pizza sauces are based on Stanislaus fresh pack tomatoes, which are generally considered to be among the best in the pizza industry. Their vegetables, such as peppers, onions, mushrooms and tomatoes, are fresh and free of preservatives or other chemicals. Their meats come from companies like Tyson so they will contain the same chemicals and preservatives as their retail level counterparts. Most of the rest of their toppings ingredients are processed foods and, as a result, will contain the usual suspects as additives and preservatives.

I believe the weak link of the PJ pizzas is their cheese. It comes from an industry cheese giant, Leprino's, which also has major accounts with other pizza chains. The basic pizza cheese used by PJ is a low-fat part-skim mozzarella cheese but it includes things like food starch, powdered cellulose and whey protein. All of the major pizza chains, especially those that use commissaries, use cheeses that are not pure cheeses. Shredding quality cheeses at the store level would be a big improvement in my opinion but none of the majors do that.

What I have also discovered is that it is best to buy pizzas from PJs when they are not being slammed. At times like that, they will form skins in advance and put them in racks pending orders. The skins might sit there for quite a long time and become puffy. Also, the workers have a tendency to dock the skins aggressively as they are being formed. This is especially true when they form skins out of dough balls that are cold right out of the cooler. Pizzas made from those skins will not be the best representation of their product. And they won't be their prettiest. The rims will be riddled with holes from the dough dockers.

At least PJs does not use frozen dough, as do Domino's (according to Tom Lehmann) and Pizza Hut. Frozen dough means a lot of dough conditioners and other chemical additives. Their doughs are nowhere as "clean" as the PJ doughs, if that is a matter of concern.

I have a 2008 copy of the ingredients for all of the Papa John's products and I would say that of the majors, PJ has the "cleanest" products. Their flour is a high protein flour that is milled from a Kansas wheat strain that was developed exclusively for them to achieve the characteristic flavor of the PJ crust. No one else has that flour. The flour is unbleached and unbromated (as are the flours used by most of the big chains) although PJ does use ascorbic acid in their flours. I estimate that the protein content is somewhere between 13-14%. Their pizza sauces are based on Stanislaus fresh pack tomatoes, which are generally considered to be among the best in the pizza industry. Their vegetables, such as peppers, onions, mushrooms and tomatoes, are fresh and free of preservatives or other chemicals. Their meats come from companies like Tyson so they will contain the same chemicals and preservatives as their retail level counterparts. Most of the rest of their toppings ingredients are processed foods and, as a result, will contain the usual suspects as additives and preservatives.

I believe the weak link of the PJ pizzas is their cheese. It comes from an industry cheese giant, Leprino's, which also has major accounts with other pizza chains. The basic pizza cheese used by PJ is a low-fat part-skim mozzarella cheese but it includes things like food starch, powdered cellulose and whey protein. All of the major pizza chains, especially those that use commissaries, use cheeses that are not pure cheeses. Shredding quality cheeses at the store level would be a big improvement in my opinion but none of the majors do that.

What I have also discovered is that it is best to buy pizzas from PJs when they are not being slammed. At times like that, they will form skins in advance and put them in racks pending orders. The skins might sit there for quite a long time and become puffy. Also, the workers have a tendency to dock the skins aggressively as they are being formed. This is especially true when they form skins out of dough balls that are cold right out of the cooler. Pizzas made from those skins will not be the best representation of their product. And they won't be their prettiest. The rims will be riddled with holes from the dough dockers.

At least PJs does not use frozen dough, as do Domino's (according to Tom Lehmann) and Pizza Hut. Frozen dough means a lot of dough conditioners and other chemical additives. Their doughs are nowhere as "clean" as the PJ doughs, if that is a matter of concern.

Peter

Well..I guess since you put it that way 'ol Bob will take a pass on PJ's this week...thanks so much for your insightful help though Peter....you know too much about too much....

I hate to admit it but I actually like papa johns. I think their crust flavor is pretty good and that muenster in their cheese sets them apart from the rest.

Nate,

I did extensive research on Papa John's pizza (see the thread at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,6758.0.html) and unless PJ has made a major change in its pizza cheese over the past few years, I have never read that they are using Muenster cheese. At one time, Little Caesars used a blend of mozzarella and Muenster cheese, and maybe they are still doing so (LC does not publish its list of pizza ingredients), so maybe you are thinking of LC instead of PJ. And maybe you are thinking of their Crazy Bread.

I just tried my first Papa Johns pizza the other week and it was bad, really bad. I don't know how they can even call it pizza! their ingredients may be half way decent but their cooking process and their recipe sucks! but I say that about all the big chain places.

I decided after the last Papa Johns I would never get a chain bought pizza again, uughk!

If you want good pizza you need to go to the independent places, preferably Italian restaurants that offer take out but then your paying a lot more for your pizza.